The present invention relates to a process wherein a solid carbonaceous material is coated with a hydrocarbon liquid prior to transference of such coated carbonaceous material to a water containing system. The invention is particularly applicable to oil shale and shale oil as the carbonaceous material and hydrocarbon liquid, respectively.
It is known in the prior art to use water containing, sealed systems, such as lock hopper systems and water sealed pump systems, to transfer oil shale from a low pressure zone, such as from a feed hopper, to a high pressure zone, such as a retort. Although using such water containing systems to transfer carbonaceous materials, such as oil shale, to a high pressure zone has been found to be effective, further improvement would be desirable.